Tough, Sarcastic, and Beautiful
by ArtIsOurAmmunition
Summary: Having federal agents as parents has its ups and downs. The up is the definitely the thrill and adventure. The down is that here in California, things started to go wrong. Really wrong. And somewhere along the line, I managed to fall in love...FAX!
1. Scout

MAX POV

The move from our latest house to sunny Aurora, Arizona had been totally unexpected and definitely not favored. But then again, when is it ever? Moving is something our family has always done, while constantly settling in new houses and new schools while still trying to live a half-normal life. And even though it never works, I still put up with it for my parents benefit and refuse to let them down. Normal is as far as it gets.

Sometimes I dream of being the normal teenage girl; the one who shopped at Gucci couture instead of Hot Topic; the one who had troubles with her boyfriend, and the one who didn't know how to use a gun.

I'm not depressed, just so you know. I'm no teenage delinquent who's been to juvi too many times to count. I may seem like one, but trust me, it's all my parents working. They chose to have the life they have as federal agents. They chose to become the best of the best in the F.B.I and Secret Service. They chose to have to constantly move and almost be killed on multiple occasions.

It's tiresome, I'll give you that. The constant work of trying not to be killed by literally hundreds of enemies (that seriously should start a gang or something), the depressing nature of a life revolving around killing, the phrase that has nearly killed me mentally growing up- "I have to go; who else will protect the president?" But, in the end everything is supposed to be worth it, right?

I sure hope so. Cue mental scoff.

To add to this tear-welling intro, with Mom gone for days while on cases and dad off protecting the president wherever he goes, I practically live for myself.

There's no use in making friends if they'll only be there for a few months and "special family time" is out of the question. So, I'm by myself- constantly with a pair of headphones in my ear and a gun on my belt, usually roaming about or looking for some sort of excitement that has nothing to do with breaking the law.

And for those of you who think that because I have so many ties to federal law enforcement I'll never get arrested, take my word for it- you are _so _wrong.

Okay, okay. Back to reality and out of my seriously boring mind.

So here I am, driving to Aurora, Arizona with my parents blasting American Idiot by Green Day over and over again on my I-pod just to annoy my dad. He-he. These are the times I praise rock bands and their tendencies to make their music really loud. Finally, he snapped.

"MAXIMUM!" Jeb Ride, my father, yelled trying to get my attention away from this freakishly-awesome song that was playing.

"Yeah?" I answered innocently, my mischievous smirk unmistakable.

"Turn off your music. And were almost there. Your mother has already called all the neighbors to tell them to stay inside and we need three people two scout the house because of its size. Will you do it?" he asked me.

Here's the thing-by "will you do it?" he actually meant "you have to do it anyways so don't even bother being sassy"

"Sure" I said.

By "scout" he means go throughout the house with a pistol looking for people trying to kill us (sometimes in the stupidest of ways). Yes, I know how to shoot a gun. In fact I own seventeen, one for each of my birthdays. My dad started to give them to me and teach me how to use it when I was thirteen. Haha. Be afraid.

We pulled into one of those crazy expensive call-the-cops-if-you-haven't-cut-your-lawn neighborhoods and I inwardly groaned. What ever happened to cheap government salaries?

"What is it, honey?" My mom, Valencia Ride, asked me from the front the front seat.

"Please tell me we aren't living in one of these houses. They're so big, and you know I _hate _big houses." I exclaimed, mentally cursing Obama and his need for protection.

"I know you do but you can spend time with the neighbors. The lady across the street is one of your dad and my neighbors from a long time ago and she has a fifteen year old, and two seventeen year olds. You can hang out there." She said, trying to make me happy by smiling but failing under my glare.

"Girls or boys?" I asked just for her benefit.

She visibly perked up, "fifteen is a girl," she smiled wickedly, "seventeen are boys"

And of course, her being the seriously jacked-up mom she is, had to wiggle her eyebrows.

I stared at her, "Really mom, really? Seventeen-year old boys equal sexist pigs. Which is equivalent to dogs when they see a peace of bacon on the counter that they can't reach."

Her smile dropped, "Okay, totally ruined that for me, thank you. But really, Anne tells me her daughter would love a new friend. It'll be fine."

"Okay it's on the next street so be alert and ready you two." My dad said and I instantly straightened and put myself on full alert while tightening the straps on the bullet-proof vest I had on over my t-shirt. Dad pulled up in front of a huge three-story house that looked beautiful and slightly bigger than the ones around it. We all crouched low and got out, running to the trunk of the car. Once we got there I took the key dad handed me and opened it. Inside was one of those metallic government issue briefcases that you see in the movies. I undid the latch and opened it. Inside were three pistols. I took them, handed one to mom, one to dad, and kept the last for me.

Dad turned to me "It's a pretty regular floor plan. Front room then living room attached to kitchen and dining room. Bedrooms off to the right and left along with bathrooms. Max, you and Val take the front I'll take the back. Be safe"

"Yeah dad" I replied, a small slime creeping up to my lips, the sign of rising adrenaline for me.

Mom and I ran low in opposite directions, using the perfectly trimmed bushes on either side of the house for protection until we ran in front of the house, crouching under windows and finally coming to the door. She went up against the wall on the right side of the door and handed me the key. I took it and silently turned the key in the lock and opening the door an inch.

Mom opened it the rest of the way, careful not to hit the wall behind it while I advanced inside. Mom slipped in after me and went off to the right checking every bedroom, closet, bathroom, or room throughout. I did the same on the left and dad did everything else. There was nothing as far as I could see, just regular bare rooms that most likely would never be used; simply for show.

We went through the entire house until finally meeting back in the entry hall before declaring it was safe.

"Okay I want you to meet our neighbors Max, come on and please try and be nice" mom pleaded with me, using the key component- bambi eyes. She could be so childish some times.

I rolled my eyes. "Am I really that bad?" I asked her

"Yes" she replied simply.

I gave her my signature death-glare and she flinched.

"Fine" I said and followed mom across the street.

FANG POV

Apparently today we are getting knew neighbors. Like I care. My sister and mom have been going on about this for the past hour non-stop, raving about "the golden days" and how her and Val were "so close they were practically sisters." She's a little crazy at the moment and looking a little hyper because apparently they are F.B.I. agents, my mom's latest dream job.

I was banging my head against the wall repeatedly, waiting for this conversation to stop so I can watch some T.V. when the phone rang. I looked up, desperately pleading mentally that she would leave the room and leave me to watch some blood-curdling horror movie in peace. But then again, how peaceful can a blood-curdling horror movie be?

Mom jumped out of the chair in excitement and looked around for the phone. "That's probably them" she said, her eyes scanning the room for the phone.

"How do you know?' asked Nudge, her eyes lit with excitement of new people.

Mom looked up at us, a huge smile spreading across her face. "I'll show you," she said.

She finally answered the phone and chatted for a moment until she hung up, only seeming to get even more excited.

"Okay Nick," I involuntarily flinched at ther use of my real name. "We are going to use your room because it looks down at the street."

Me, Nudge, Iggy (my brother) and Dad all followed mom up stairs to my room, all of us confused.

"This is why I love his family. Well, I love Val too but this just makes it all the more exciting! They have had people come after them when they go to a new home so they call all the neighbors and tell them to stay inside for ten minutes while they look at the house. Now watch what they do."

As if on cue a black car with tinted windows was speeding down the street and stopped at the house in front of us. The first people to come out was a man and a woman, crouching down with what looked like bullet-proof vest on. The next was a girl, seeming close to my age.

She was tall with brown hair that had blond streaks and beautiful brown eyes. Her body was tense and I knew she was on alert for anything that might happen.

The three of them went to the back of the car and the girl un-locked it. She pulled three things out. They looked like…pistols? The girl gave one to each of her parents and took one for herself.

Oh. My. God. Isn't that girl a little young to be handling a gun? She looks my age! Her dad ran to the back of the house while the mom and girl went to the front, using the bushes on the sides for protection until they came to the door and woman opened it. I could see lights being turned on throughout the house as they roamed and sometimes the girl coming through the doorway and checking closets and bathrooms, gun pointed and ready.

Why do I feel like I'm flashing back to an episode of NCIS?

After ten minutes the three of them came out and started walking towards our house. The woman looked up at my window and smiled and my mom waved down to her. "Okay let's meet them….and Nick please try to be nice" Mom pleaded with me.

I shrugged. She sighed.

The doorbell rang and mom hurried downstairs to answer it with all of us trailing behind.

She opened the door to let the neighbors in and we all went into the living room.

"Kids this is Valencia and Jeb Ride and their daughter Maximum." Mom introduced us.

"My name is Max" Max growled and glared at mom.

Nudge Gasped. "OMG. Your glare is like just as scary as Fang's. And his is very scary. One time this guy was bullying me and Fang stepped in and just glared at the guy and him and his friends just ran off. It was pretty cool. But what makes it so scary is how silent he is. It's like he's mute. Not that you are Fang it just is really scary with your emo clothes and emotionless thing going on. Not that your emo either, 'cause I know your not. OMG you should play a vampire in Twilight. Oh that would-" At the mention of the annoying vampire movies she made me watch for her birthday, I clamped my hand over her mouth to make her shut up.

"Sorry" she said but it was muffled by my hand.

I looked up at Max and saw that her and her parents were shocked. That's what usually happens with Nudge when she first talks to people. "Fang, Iggy, and this is Nudge." I said, pointing with the hand not occupied with Nudge's mouth.

Nudge waved ecstatically, grinning wildly against my hand.

Slowly, I took my hand of Nudge's mouth hoping she wouldn't continue with her rant. She didn't. Thank God.

"Well you can call me Val and my husband Jeb" Mrs. Ride said with a warm smile.

"Where's the bathroom so I can take this thing off. It's so uncomfortable." Max said, pointing to her vest.

"Yes, go down the hallway and the second door on your left is a bathroom." My mom pointed towards the hallway.

Jeb checked his watch. "Oh, the moving truck should be here. Can Max stay here for a few minutes? I want her to get to know you guys so that she won't be lonely when we leave," he smiled sadly.

"Lonely?" mom asked, perplexed.

"Well, I work for the secret service so I won't be here for some periods of time and Val is often gone for a couple of days when she gets a new case. Sadly, for those times max is alone and we would have someone from child services take care of her but the government thinks she's old enough to be alone since she's seventeen and knows how to use a weapon"

Nudge's happy voice chimed in, "Oh my gosh I would love it if she could stay here sometimes. We could gossip and I could show her around town and tell her about the school. And _shopping_. She and I could go shopping, like, all the time. Although I doubt she really needs it because she could pull off like any look. I mean, she's so pretty. OMG, Max and Fang would look so cute together. They-" I once again put my hand over her mouth to stop her ranting.

Val and Jeb exchanged a look and quickly got up and started for the door. I heard Val whisper to Jeb "We might want to leave before Max hears about shopping and gossip"

"Good idea" Jeb whispered.

As soon as mom showed them out Max came out of the bathroom. She had on black skinny jeans and a black t-shirt with fireworks on it. In her hands she had her vest and she looked so much more comfortable to have it off. "Where are my parents?" she asked, her eyes scanning the room.

"Your moving truck is supposed to be here any minute so they left to help out," mom answered.

Max nodded and sat in one of the recliners. She looked at each one of us and seemed to be sizing us up. She looked at Nudge and Iggy and smirked, obviously noticing how un-muscular they are. Iggy looked hurt.

Then her eyes landed on me and her smirk dropped. My shirt reveals the muscles on my arms and I can see in her eyes that she knows I'm a lot stronger than the rest of my family. Now it was my turn to smirk.

She glared at me and I glared right back. I have nothing against her but a challenge is always worth it in my book.

Mom must have noticed what was happening, "Nikolas, what did I tell you! Be nice and stop glaring at her"

Max and I slowly dropped our glares. "Well, I see no reason to hate you so I'm going to go now" Max said and got up and left.


	2. Sleepover

**Okay, so I know that you all like people to update as soon as possible and since I am a nice (and bored) person I will write one for you even though I just started this fanfic the day before yesterday and I will post it today.**

** P.S. you most likely won't get them this often though because my mom thinks I'm crazy because I spend too much time on my computer so she's forcing me to do thing normal people do like go see Eclipse! lol**

**Okay, here you go:**

(MAX POV)

I was swimming laps in my pool when my dad came out to say goodbye. He beckoned me over. Obediently, I swam to the side nearest him, resting my arms on the concrete, "Max, your mom has to leave too so make sure to go over to the neighbors so you don't spend to much time alone here, it's unhealthy," he said, giving me a look.

"Yeah, sure. Have a nice time and say hi to the prez for me!." I pushed off from the side, the water crashing around me.

Dad gave a little smile and started walking away, "Okay bye kiddo, I'll see you in a month, and your mom in a week because she's on, well, whatever case she's on," he said.

Hours later, I was lounging on the couch comfortably, flipping through channel after channel. The doorbell rang, a loud and sheer tone echoing through the large house. I sighed and reluctantly pulled myself off the couch, striding to the door. I looked out the peephole, and was met by three familiar figures. I pulled the door open, my expression turning to a somewhat nice one. On the other side was a very exited looking Nudge, a bored looking Fang, and an Iggy that was checking me out. Great. Just great. "Oh, it's you guys."

I let them in, Nudge skipping in first with Iggy and Fang trailing behind her.

I led them around the corner and into the living room, "Max?"

I spun and faced Fang, raising my eyebrow questioningly, "What?"

He pointed to a glass cabinet on the fall wall, "What are _those_?"

I shrugged like it was nothing, "Guns. Duh. Haven't you ever seen TV?"

Iggy and Nudge went wide-eyed while Fang's eyes widened a millimeter but he kept up his expression of boredom pretty well.

I plopped back down on the couch, continuing my channel surfing, "So, why are you here again?"

Iggy spoke first, "we were wondering if you want to hang out today since we have nothing to do. We could go swimming at our place?" he asked hesitantly, eying me warily.

"Sure" I replied. "I've got to get ready so I'll meet you at your house in a couple of minutes."

I noticed Nudge had been silent this whole time and looked at her. She was staring at me with wide-eyes and her mouth was in a perfect 'O'. "Okay, if you guys are seriously going to be my friends you might want to get used to the whole guns and shooting stuff because it tends to happen a lot. Ya..well…bye."

I ushered them out of the house quickly, shutting the door with a loud _bang _behind them. I walked up to the third floor, which I declared mine and changed into a purple and black tankini with swimming trunks on top of the bikini bottoms.

I picked up a random bag from my closet floor and stuffed a bunch of necessary "pool stuff" in there.

Satisfied, I shuffled down the stairs and out the door, locking it carefully behind me.

I came to the doorway of their house and rang the doorbell. After about the third time I knocked it opened.

Standing there in all his dark glory was an annoyed looking Fang, clutching the door with a soft grip. Sadly for me, Mr. Fang was not even wearing a shirt.

Yes people, that means I got a perfect view of a certain someone's perfectly toned eight-pack.

"Uh…..Um…..Hello" I stuttered.

NO! Maximum ride does not stutter! Deep Breaths. In. Out. In. Out

"Max" Fang said, smirking.

I could feel my cheeks heating up and hating myself for it.

I brushed past Fang and looked around, determined to not let him get to me. Their house looked about the same floor plan as mine so I easily found my way through corridors and finally found myself at some sliding glass doors.

Iggy and Nudge were outside, lounging carelessly on a few pool-chairs. Iggy was applying sunscreen and wearing orange and red Hawaiian style trunks while Nudge was wearing a pink sparkly bikini.

I came out and they both turned to look at me. Nudge looked really exited I was here until she saw what I was wearing and frowned slightly. Iggy also looked disappointed in what I was wearing. For effect, I winked at him. He glared back.

"Max! I am so excited you're here! Like really excited. Like you don't know how excited. We don't have any kids around here. Except for Gazzy and Angel, but they're on vacation for a couple of weeks. So the past week I have been bored to death with my brothers, but now I have you! OMG. We can do each others nails and go shopping-"

I hurriedly clamped my hand over the girl's mouth and gave my best death-glare, "Max rule number one = I may be your friend but there is no way in hell I will ever have my nails done, ever gossip, and absolutely _never_ go shopping" I told her.

I didn't bother to put sunscreen on before jumping into the pool. The water surrounded me, making me feel like I'm flying as I swam.

We broke the surface and I laughed until I was crying while Fang glared at me playfully. He swam out of the pool with me on his back and set me on a sun chair. I was still laughing so I didn't notice when Nudge asked to borrow my sunglasses. And when I completely ignored her she came to look for them in my bag. I stopped laughing abruptly, realizing which pocket she just opened.

"AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed and ran to the other side of the pool to hug Iggy. This made me laugh even harder than before.

"I…told you…to…get used…to it," I said between my laughter. I got myself under control and Fang gave me a questioning look. "Why don't you explain what's in the bag, Nudge!" I called over to her.

She shook her head vigorously. I sighed and faced Fang. "You really wanted to know…"

I pulled the gun out and Iggy and Fang burst out laughing.

Of course Mrs. Walker, their mom, had to come out and ruin our fun. "Max! Put that away before you hurt someone!" she chided.

I rolled my eyes, but put it away. "Lunch is ready," she told us before going back inside

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Over the course of lunch I was forced- she used bambi eyes, something physically impossible to resist- by Nudge to have a sleepover with them. Reluctantly, I walked home and packed an over-night bag, while Fang stared at me from my bed. He was sent by a determined Nudge who wouldn't let me back out, "Can you stop that!" I asked him, my already angry mood just progressing.

"Stop what? Breathing?" he asked.

"No, staring at me"

"I was told to watch you"

"Well…just…stare at something else for a while, will ya? That's just…creepy."

He shrugged and went over to my I-pod. "Good choice in music" he commented, scrolling through my playlists.

"Thank you. Now you wait here," I said, starting towards the door.

"One more thing. Nudge and Mom said no guns," He smirked chuckled lightly at my expression of disappointment.

"Well then let's go because I have nothing else to bring" Fang followed me through the house and out the door and over to his house. We found Nudge and Iggy in the cinema setting up movies to watch.

Iggy noticed me first "Okay max, pick two movies to watch. Same with you Fang"

"Get Smart and Green Zone! Best movies ever" I exclaimed.

"Legion and Haunted" said Fang. I stared at him in horror. "Oh. My. God. I'm not going to do so well in those," I said sheepishly.

"The tough, sarcastic, and beautiful Maximum Ride can't take a horror movie?" Fang smirked, raising an eyebrow.

I stared at him, waiting for him to back-track. Fang realized what he said and his emotionless mask faltered. He looked panicked. Iggy smirked. "What was that Fang? I can't hear you," Iggy said with an amused expression.

"Um….um….I didn't mean that. Pretend I didn't say that" Fang said.

Nudge squealed happily and I covered my ears. "I think I'm going to go deaf if that ever happens again," I mumbled.

"I'm going to go get ready for bed," Fang said.

"It's five-o-clock," I stated.

He shrugged and left. "Awwww! That was so cute. See, I told him you guys would make a cute couple. I mean, he just told you that you are beautiful. Okay, because that just happened my choices are Remember Me and Dear John. Those are the most romantic movies I can think of. Other than Twilight but that has too much action and Fang wouldn't like it be cause it's _vampires_. Oh but actually that would be kind of cool because vampires have fangs. And you would be Bella, which means beautiful. See your connection here. But, he probably won't like the ones I'm picking either. Well too bad. We're watching it whether he likes it or not." Nudge said.

Fang came in then and I couldn't help but stare like I did earlier. He was wearing sweatpants and a muscle shirt that you could see his abs through. Of course they were black. Normal Fang.

Iggy put in his first movie, but because he's immature it was G-force. Ugh horrible movie. The whole time Fang and I were groaning when Iggy looked really exited and laughed at the "scary" parts where he would actually look scared.

Finally, we were called to dinner. "Thank god that is over. I don't think I can stand another minute of three little gerbils doing superhumanly things" I said.

We all came to the dining room and sat at one end of the 20 seater table. "So Max, your mother sais you've moved a lot. Where have you lived?"

"California, Nevada, Maine, Wisconsin, Florida, Virginia, North and South Dakota, Rode Island, Alaska, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Montana, Idaho, and now Arizona" I said simply.

"Wow that is a lot of places to live. How long have you lived in each one?" she asked.

"Um I think the longest I've live in a place was nine months and the shortest 45 minutes" We move a lot. This is my first time in Arizona but there are some states that I have lived in multiple times.

"45 minutes?" she asked.

I chuckled. "Yes, someone hid in the house and attempted to kill us. Of course, my effort to bring him down was wasted because he didn't even know how to use the gun! Funniest thing I have ever seen."

Mrs. Walker didn't find this funny. Her face was an expression of horror and fear. Probably towards me. "Starting to second guess that dream job Mom?" Iggy asked his mother.

"Okay, well what school will you be attending?" she quickly changed the subject.

Iggy snickered.

"Um, I think it's called Aura High School. I like that name. Peaceful." I said.

"Well your not going to find it very peaceful once it starts" Iggy said.

Fang nodded in agreement. I sighed. "That bad?" I asked.

"That bad." Fang said.

The rest of the night went by miserably. During Nudge's movies I had laid back on my beanbag so I effectively only got a partial-view.

Halfway through, I resorted to pounding my head against the ground. Peering up at Fang, I saw him with a similar expression, half annoyance and half utter horror.

During Fang's movies I was so scared that I went over to the couch he was sitting on and wrapped myself in a ball right next to him. He chuckled and slid me onto his lap.

Somehow, the gesture didn't bother me. I knew it should, but I was comfortable with my head snuggled into his chest. I think he felt the same way, because at first he seemed to go rigid, like he couldn't believe he did that, but he then seemed to soften out.

Eventually my eyelids fluttered shut and I went limp, wrapped tightly in Fang's arms.


	3. Breakups Backfire

**VERY IMPOSRTANT!: I don't want to be rude so I won't say your name but someone is stealing my story. Not the plot but little things that happen and even the title. And it's really making me p-od so can you please stop. Just **_**please**_**.! . And if you don't stop I can fine you for plagiarism. Just saying. Oh and I will tell everyone who you are and let people give you hell for it. If you think that I may be copying her, her publish date is three days after mine.**

** With that point across I give you the newest chapter:**

**(MAX'S POV)**

_**BREAK-UPS BACKFIRE**_

I opened my eyes from a dreamless sleep to see black. Black, black, and more black. My first thought was _Oh no! I'm blind! How will I eat chocolate chip cookies now? _But a sudden flash of light told me I wasn't.

Last nights memories came back to me and I blushed at the thought of falling asleep in Fang's lap.

I blushed harder when I realized what the black was. Fang's t-shirt.

But suddenly, I turned murderous when it dawned on me what that burst of light a minute ago was. A flash. A camera flash. Darn it!

I rolled out of Fang's arms and off the couch and pulled my legs under me so that I landed on my feet. Glaring at the two in front of me I prepared my attack on them in my brain. Nudge was stifling giggles while Iggy was grinning mischievously holding a camera. "Give me that camera," I growled at him.

Iggy and Nudge ran off in different directions. But me, being the smart one, ran after Nudge.

Their plan was so obvious. The picture was take about a minute before I found Iggy holding up the camera like he just took it. One minute was enough time for them to switch the memory card and for Nudge to hide the real one.

Nudge wasn't hard to catch. She is wearing high heels so she didn't even make it too the hallway before I had her pinned to the ground. "Where is it?" I asked her as calmly as I could. Which wasn't very calm.

"I won't tell you" Nudge seemed confident that I wouldn't find it but she didn't know I already figured out her plan.

"Fine" I replied with a grin, taking out a set of handcuffs out of my pocket and locked her with her arms around a post. With that I set off to find Iggy.

Apparently Fang had gone after Iggy because just as I was about to enter the kitchen, an angry Fang came out holding a very scared looking Iggy with his arms behind his back. Fang looked at me and asked simply "Nudge?" Meaning "Why the hell did you go after Nudge when Iggy was the one with the camera?"

I explained their plan to him and he pulled out the camera from his pocket to check. He smirked " Wow Ig, you were just beat in your own game."

I grinned from ear to ear when he didn't put on "by a girl" to that comment like most guys would.

So Fang isn't a sexist pig. Maybe I could be friends with this family.

I led him over to Nudge and motioned for him to set Iggy down next to Nudge. "Where is it?" Fang asked in a stern voice.

Nudge sighed. "I did this on purpose. If it were to come to this I would have to get something out of it. I put it in Iggy's underwear drawer."

Iggy gasped, "But that's where I keep…oh no"

Nudge grinned wickedly at him, "Yep! I found where you and Gazzy hid them all."

I was so confused and looked at Fang with pleading eyes that said 'Please don't make me go get it'

He gave me the slightest shake of his head 'NO'

My face turned into a pout 'Why?'

The corner of his lips twitched. No one would have noticed except me. 'Because it's funny'

I glared at him 'You will pay for this ' before going up the long staircase. Iggy's room was the last down the hallway of the second floor and a made a gagging sound in disgust at it. It was white, pure white. The curtains, the bed, the dask, the TV, everything was white. I made my way over to his dresser that was against the far wall. Hesitantly, I opened the dresser drawer and gasped at what I saw.

**(FANG POV)**

A while ago Max had gone upstairs to explore the contents of Iggy's underwear drawer. That thought made me chuckle. Truthfully, I wish she hadn't guessed their plan so I could have that picture.

Max is awesome. Like the coolest girl I have ever met. She isn't a snooty-bootie rich girl like everyone else around here. She's laid back and really nice. Unless you piss her off of course. That wouldn't be pretty. She also has a real personality. Well… everybody has a personality but hers isn't controlled by her parents. She thinks what she wants about people and expresses herself in different ways and her parents don't care. It's refreshing to know that there is someone like that around here.

Although I hate to admit it, I meant what I had said yesterday. Max is tough, sarcastic, and… beautiful in every way. But what I'm worried about is school. Some people won't like her attitude and beauty. And by "most people" I mean my girlfriend. Lissa.

Lissa is the queen bee of our school. She's also the slut of our school. I seriously can't name one guy she hasn't made out with. Another thing she won't like is me hanging out with Max. I can just see the fights they-

My thoughts were interrupted by Max yelling from upstairs "IGGY WALKER! WHAT THE HECK IS THIS! OH. MY. GOD. I SHOULD BE REPORTING YOU TO MY PARENTS! BOMBS! YOU MAKES BOMBS!"

By now she made her way down the stairs and came to a stop in front of Iggy. She was holding a shoebox that contained a bunch of wires, pieces of metal, and a few batteries. In the middle of all is a little memory card for a camera. Oh, god a F.B.I agent and Secret Service agent's daughter just found Iggy's stash of bomb supplies. If I weren't known as mysterious and silent I would be rolling on the ground in fits of laughter right now.

"I don't hurt anyone. I promise. I use them as pranks. Like at Christmas I threw a stink bomb into Nudge's closet so that all her clothes smelled really bad. Although that backfired when it gave her an excuse to buy herself a new wardrobe. Or when I made a paint bomb and bleached all of Fang's clothes white. For a week he had to wear white clothes, then I died them all pink. Of course, that backfired too when Nudge used that as an excuse to buy _him_ a new wardrobe. Purely for fun and that's all" he said. That was the worst three weeks of my life. First one week of white. Then another week of pink. And another week of shopping with Nudge. Not fun at all.

"Fine, but if you ever pull a prank on me I will get you arrested," Max told him. Iggy nodded his head vigorously and Max went to get Nudge out of her handcuffs.

My phone went off and played the song "rich girl" by Gwen Stefani. I set this for my ringtone for Lissa because it describes her perfectly and how she brags that she is wealthy.

Iggy, Nudge, and I groaned simultaneously and Max gave me a questioning look. Iggy answered her, "Fang's girlfriend. There's only one word you need to describe her. Slut."

Nudge and Iggy exchanged a glance before they both grinned triumphantly. Then I realized what they had done "Oh no, I'm in for it…" I muttered before picking up the phone.

"Yeah"

_Fang! How come I just got a text with a picture of some girl snuggling up to you? _She screeched at me.

"Lissa, nothing happened. That's my neighbor Max. My siblings invited her over for a sleepover and we fell asleep while watching movies"

_Ugh! I can't believe this is happening. You cheated on me and you won't even admit it. Pathetic. We're over. For good. Have a nice life because I don't care!_

With that she hung up. I slowly turned to Iggy." Iggy, as much as I want do thank you for getting her to break up with me do you realize what you just did by sending that text? Lissa is going to tell the whole school that I was cheating and she broke up with me. That also means that to the whole school and" I checked my phone " the 43 text messages I just got Max is now my girlfriend and when summer ends Lissa won't like Max. Definite girl war." I told him.

All of them were staring at me in shock. I don't blame them, that's more than I usually say in a whole day. But what I had just said slowly registered in their minds and they all came back to their senses.

"Oops," said Iggy.

"Yeah, oops" Max said sarcastically.

"Oh. My. God. What did we do! Max and Lissa hating each other would not be good. But it will be fun watching Lissa get beat to a pulp. She deserves it. I don't have any idea why you ever stayed with her, Fang. She wasn't nice at all. Even dad didn't like her and that's something because she's rich. But a war between Max and Lissa would definitely not be good. And now everybody thinks that you and Max are together. Not that I don't want you two to be together 'cause you know I do but I want it to be real Like you two actually like each other, not just a rumor," Nudge ranted.

I looked over at Max and saw that she had a huge grin on your face. I cocked my head to the side a millimeter. She noticed. "I've only been here two days and I already have an enemy, this is a new accomplishment. Okay, now I can't wait for school," she said. She sounded so exited, like a seven year old kid on Christmas morning.

"Your happy! You've got to be kidding me. Lissa can make your life heck at school. Seriously, no guys will ever want to go out with you!" exclaimed Nudge.

Max laughed, "Like I care. Why would I ever want to go out with a guy. They are all sexist pigs and think of girls as toys"

Okay, that comment just makes me like Max more.

Nudge squealed, "Name the only guy that isn't a sexist pig."

Max didn't even hesitate to answer, "Fang" She realized what Nudge going off about and shook her head with wide eyes. "Okay, this is getting awkward since he's right there so I'm going to leave now, bye guys" And with that she ran fiercely but gracefully toward the door.

Whoa! Did I seriously just say that! Oh my god. This girl is really getting to me.


	4. Stalker

**(MAX POV)**

It's been a week since I got here and it has been pure torture. Iggy and Nudge insisted that they take me on a tour of the small town and then ordered Fang to come with us. Big mistake. Everywhere we went there always had a couple of high school kids and they would whisper to each other and point at Fang and I. We would both glare at them and they would cringe but as soon as they thought we were gone I could hear them continue whispering about us.

Another thing is this Lissa girl. She keeps calling Fang and asking to get back together with him. He sais no every time. But she won't leave him alone. Today we passed by a Verizon store and Fang ended up getting a new phone with a new number.

Mom came home yesterday. I told her about my new friends and all that has happened this week with the "Fang's girlfriend" situation, and she turned traitor on me. She burst out laughing. I swear everybody in Arizona is out to get me.

If you red these last paragraphs it sounds like I hate it here, but you couldn't be more wrong. I love it here. Like the things I normally have problems with are different here.

Before = I'm all alone … Now = I have Iggy, Fang, and Nudge. And apparently I'm supposed to like these Angel and Gazzy kids.

Before = Big house ….. Now = I am barely ever at my house, usually at the neighbors.

Before = Not a lot of things to do while alone … Now = I have plenty to do with my friends.

Currently, we are in the most gay ice cream shop I have ever seen. The whole inside is pink and white with big fluffy couches and the only ice cream they serve is tart but it's really good so no one is complaining about the colors except for me. "Ugh! Can we _please_ go now, I'm going to barf if I stay in here any longer" I said to Fang. He smirked and shook his head, "No"

I ignored his attempts to annoy me and walked out the door and down the street. Only Fang followed, "Okay then, we will leave but I'm only coming with you because I think Nudge is about to rant about how much she loves the color scheme of that place"

I chuckled and looked over my shoulder just in time to see Iggy slap his hand over Nudge's mouth. Another thing I saw was the man that was sitting in an armchair near us duck into an alley. I stiffened but continue walking, trying to keep my cool. That man can't be following us, can he? Damn it, just the thing I need to ruin my perfect first week here.

Fang brought up conversation but I was barely listening, just trying to find out a way to ditch this guy. I stopped in front of a store pretending to be admiring an outfit in the window and glanced to my left. Sure enough, there was the guy buying a newspaper a few yards behind us.

I continued to walk and Fang kept giving me worried and questioning glances. I guess I need to explain. "Fang, I'm sorry I had to get you into this but the guy in red t-shirt and jeans is following us. Stay calm, and when I say so we are going into an alley. You are going to run and I am going to deal with the guy. Got it?" I whispered to him.

I glanced at Fang and saw he had his emotionless rock expression on. "Are you kidding me Max, I'm not leaving you here with some guy, most likely a criminal" he whispered back.

"Well, do you know how to use a gun?" I asked.

"I hate to say this but yes, my dad taught me self-defense and how to use a gun. I have no idea why. Of course then he abandoned us," he mumbled the last part to his self, I doubt I was supposed to hear.

I just stared at him, waiting for him to get it. He gasped, "You have a gun!"

I smiled "Two"

I spotted an alley that would work. "Okay, go in here and but yourself behind the nearest dumpster," I told him

We went in and I rolled up the army pants I was wearing to reveal a Glock 23 and a Glock 27, two standard guns for F.B.I agents to use strapped to my left leg. I handed the 23 to Fang and took the 27 for myself. "Don't break that, I got it for my fourteenth birthday."

He grumbled something that sounded like "Of course you care about the gun more than my safety" and hid behind the dumpster. I flattened myself against the wall and waited for my newest stalker to arrive.

Less than a minute later he rounded the corner and cursed when the alley was empty. "Hold it," I ordered him and pointed my gun to his head.

He stopped and slowly turned to face me. He looked maybe thirty with shaggy blond hair and blue eyes. He was tall, but not as tall as Fang, probably six foot. I recognized him immediately.

He grinned, "Oh, hey Maxi! Wow, I haven't seen you since you were what, eleven? Gosh you've grown."

"Hello Sam"

Sam was American assassin. My parents caught him and sent him to jail but he escaped. From there on he left America and eventually somehow became a terrorist, his goal being to kill many Americans, starting with the ones he hates the most. He started with my parents. He couldn't get them at first so he used me as bait. I was kidnapped at age eleven for a week but the Secret Service and F.B.I. came and shut the entire operation down and got everyone except for Sam. For the last six years he has been recruiting people for his operation and somehow killed all of his targets except for my parents and me. So here he was.

"If you walk away, I promise I won't pull this trigger" I told him confidently.

"Max, we've got company" I heard Fang say to me and I looked up.

Sure enough, on the other end of the alley four men were holding guns with grins on their faces. I looked over my shoulder and found four others blocking the other side. Farther out on the roof of the store across the street were two men with sniper rifles. I looked back at Sam only to find him pointing another gun at me.

"Why didn't I just shoot you while I could" I murmured to myself.

I only had one choice here. To surrender. It's not only the safest way for me, but also the safest way for Fang. Also, they want me alive to get my parents, so if I don't cooperate they kill Fang. Great, just great. "Fang, drop your weapon into the dumpster and give up, were surrounded" I called to him.

I slowly crouched down and threw my pistol to the side, put my hands above my head, and stood back up.

"Take the boy too, he may be of some use to me" Sam told his little killing minions.

Four emerged and came forward and held onto me and three went to Fang. Hah! They thought I was stronger than him! Well, maybe I was. I knocked out the guy who was holding me when I was eleven. I smirked at Fang. He glared at me but I could see in his eyes that it wasn't a glare of hatred but a playful glare; he didn't blame me for being kidnapped. I sighed in relief; I was so scared that Fang would avoid me for the rest of our lives because of this.

They brought us to a waiting van and shoved us in after handcuffing us. Where did they get handcuffs? But, lucky Fang got a seat while I had my feet handcuffed to the floor. This is very uncomfortable. We drove out of the alley and down the street. The last thing I saw was Iggy and Nudge with two kids. There was a girl that looked around eight with bouncy blond curls and bright blue eyes. There was also a little boy who looked 10. They could easily pass as twins they look so much alike. Nudge had a worried expression and Iggy was looking around for something. That something was Fang and I. Then a needle was shot into my arm and I fell unconscious.

**And the action finally begins! Don't forget to review for me!**


	5. Deadly Sarcasm

**IF YOU ARE CONFUSED READ THIS:**

**You guys are confused. And I don't like that because it's on my thing I hate list. So I will clear things up.**

**That was a whole other story that has nothing to do with this one.**

**Don't listen to my sisters review or anything else you hear, I am continuing Tough, Sarcastic, and Beautiful**

**If you got like ten e-mails saying there is a new chapter, I don't know what happened because I got that too and it annoyed me soooo much.**

**I posted a chapter from another story on this so forgive me it was a mistake. oops**

**And to prove I am continuing this here is another chapter.**

After coming in and out of consciousness a few times I finally woke up and took in my surroundings. I was in a room that was pure white. Nothing anywhere. Not even a window. The only thing that was here was me and the shackles that chained me to the floor. And one other thing; Fang was sitting on the other side of the room and staring at me. He tried to sit up but was yanked back to the floor. Now I noticed that he too had the shackles like me and couldn't sit up so he ended up lying down and turning his head to the side to look at me. "Care to explain?" He asked me calmly.

I sighed and told him everything about Sam and why we are here, "So basically if no one finds us, we are dead. Starting with you." I finished.

"Great" he said.

I took a look at my surroundings. "There's a wooden door handle which means we're in a old building. We are in a room with no windows so most likely the back room of a store. There's mold and dirt everywhere so abandoned building. Hey Fang is there a ghost town anywhere within a fifty mile radius of Aurora?" **(A/N: If you don't know what a ghost town is it's a town that was totally abandoned)**

"Yeah, there's one about thirty miles away. Why?" he replied.

"Because that's where we are"

"Well that took us all of five minutes."

"Us?"

"Okay, you"

The door swung open rather violently and dust flew everywhere causing Fang and I start coughing uncontrollably. In came Sam holding an old looking camera and tripod. He set it up in front of me and turned it on. "Say, hi to the camera Maxi"

"Hi to the camera Maxi" I replied with fake enthusiasm.

And here is where I start my escape plan. From ages 1-12 my mom didn't trust babysitters to look after me so instead she left me with Agent Michaels for the day. He was a former field agent that stayed in the office all day gathering intel so I would sit there and watch whatever he was doing. During lunch he would teach me random things like how to use handcuffs or different pressure points. For two months he taught me how to use Morse Code. I wasn't paying attention to what Sam was saying but blinking concentrating on how to use Morse code to spell out 'Ghost Town'

G: **— — ·**

H: · · · ·

O: — — —

S: · · ·

T: —

T: —

O: — — —

W: · — —

N: — ·

I mentally sighed in relief when the camera was turned to Fang just after I finished."-And if not he is the first to go" he chuckled darkly.

_I might as well make this video a little funny_, I thought to myself. Just as the camera came to face me a shifted to my left and brought up my foot to kick him where the sun don't shine. Sam doubled over and said in a strained voice "You watch it Max"

I grinned at the camera and said, "Hey mom, when I get home can I have some cookies?" I winked for good measure before Sam stood and switched it off.

Sam gathered his thing and left grumbling, "Great, that was the only film I have so I will be embarrassed in front of everyone"

After we got over coughing from the newly risen dust Fang asked me a question I new he was going to ask any minute, "Aren't you the slightest bit scared?"

"Well, I've been kidnapped four times in my life so I get used to it. But if I'm scared then I will end up traumatized. When I was first kidnapped I was scared. Scared and depressed for nearly a year. But what I learned from that is I can't always center around the past; but around the present and how the present will affect my future. If I'm scared of the past then how will I ever have a bright and happy future?"

"You don't even realize how true that is. Six years ago my dad left us with almost nothing and I guess we did the same and came to where we are now with more than we used to, a lot more friends, and we're happier than ever. And we adopted Nudge that year. Her ranting and always happy mood always cheered everybody up." He replied smiling at newly resurfaced memories.

After that we just sat in silence for who knows how long until sleep finally engulfed my vision.

**(I was going to end it here, but realized that I have like no parts in Fang's POV so I will continue)**

**(FANG'S POV)**

Three days. Three days since we have been in this place, wherever this place might be in that little ghost town. At least, it seemed like three days. I couldn't tell because of the lack of windows. Also three days of throbbing aches throughout my entire body and three days of sharp pain from my wrists where the poorly made metal shackles have rubbed the skin away. Three days since I ate a single meal that now left my stomach empty and feeling as if it was going to rot.

And three days of getting to know the magnificent Maximum Ride. (Cue round of applause) No matter how horrible and unsettling the situation might be she somehow finds a way to make everything all the better.

It's almost like she's planning what to say to these people when they come in and she throws some witty comment at them. Then the point a gun at me and she shuts up. It's really amusing. Now you are probably thinking, '_Are you crazy, I would be scare to death if that happened to m_e!' Well I am taking Max's advice and staying confident and happy.

And during our happy times I learned a lot about her. She likes the same music as me, she skateboards a lot, she fights a lot, she goes to shooting ranges whenever she gets mad so she doesn't kill anyone, and last but not least is my favorite; her favorite color is black. Okay, so maybe it's black _and_ purple, but I like black better so I will only mention that to whoever asks.

She's totally badass so never mess with her. I already knew that but she tends to remind me that she can beat me up. Well, she thinks she can; I can see the uncertainty in her eyes when she says that. I think she's trying to convince herself more than me.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of cars and sirens getting louder and louder until they came to a screeching halt somewhere near us. I sighed in relief, they're finally here! Max grumbled, "Took them long enough" and I chuckled.

But my relief was crumbled when gunshots were fired. Max and I sat there for about five minutes and probably over a hundred shots until the shots finally stopped.

The door swung open, once again making me cough and standing in the doorway were Max's parents looking deadly. Valencia ran over to help Max while Jeb came over to me. "Okay, let's try and get these off." He pulled out big pliers and I had to squirm around until he could reach the chain of the shackles to cut them off.

"Thanks," I told him.

"No problem" He replied.

Standing was an issue though. It had been a while since my legs had been worked so I ended up falling over and crawling to the wall to lean against it. Max was having the same problem and she came next to me and leaned her head back. Paramedics rushed in with gurneys and all of their medical-stuff-thingys and we were lifted onto gurneys and wheeled out.

The front room was creepy with all of the fake cash and different types of guns that were all coated with newly settled dust. Outside was even scarier. There was nothing illegal of dangerous but all of the buildings were run-down or collapsed and there was absolutely nothing living except for the, like, 200 F.B.I, Arizona Police, _and_ Secret Service people. _Wow, _everyone loves Max, huh?

Once in the ambulance I was checked for wounds and had my hands bandaged. I took this as my chance to ask questions. "Do you know how long I was in there?" I asked the doctor.

"According to the news you were there for five days, but I never believe those guys so I really don't know," he replied. "Now I need you to go to sleep so that nothing will trigger and send you into shock."

I sighed and closed my eyes. I never realized how tired I was. My eyelids felt as if it were balancing a hundred pounds on top of a needle that was piercing my skin. It will take me hours to wash all of this dust out of my eyes.

**I was going to make their kidnapping last a couple of chapters but decided against it once I thought of the most genius idea I have ever thought of. You will love it! EEK! I can't wait.**

**-I know I go on a lot of vacations but I will be in Canada from the 27-6 at my cabin. Then I come back for 5 days and leave to go to Virginia but I will be updating in Virginia and on the plane because my mom works at a place that can get me Internet on the plane. Yipee!**

**REVIEW! -FANGALICIOUS**


	6. It's Better When You're Clueless

_**It's Better When You're Clueless**_

Have your friends ever tried to scare you by putting their heads right in front of your face so that when you wake up from a excellent sleep you see a bunch of people staring at you and you jump up screaming? Well, if you haven't you can learn from my experience because that's how I was woken up this morning,

But the people staring at me weren't only my closest friend, JJ, but my entire family. This is where I jumped up screaming and continued screaming when everybody else screamed too.

Eventually though, everyone fell silent and just stared at me, "What?" I asked rather harshly.

They started saying random explanations at the same time, most likely scared of what I would do to them if they got me in a bad mood. Which they did. The only person who just stood there waiting for everybody to stop talking was Nudge. No one stopped so she had to make them. "Shut up!" she yelled, her voice like steel. Wow, Nudge has some spunk in her.

The room instantly silenced. I could feel the fear rolling off of them from the situation that they only keep making worse. Nudge + Fang mad is not a pretty thing to experience.

"You were out for a day after you came back. We were all worried sick! Five days! How did you even get into that mess? You know what, I don't even want to know! Let's start with something simple. How are you feeling?" Nudge blabbed, continuing to her regular self.

"Fine" Memories came flooding my mind, reminding me of the old, moldy place that Max and I had been chained to the cold, cement floor in. I shifted in my position, my bones aching and protesting but overall okay.

I finally got around to surveying the space around me and saw the familiar beanbag chairs, black bed, black desk, pretty much black everything. The only thing different was white walls and carpets. I bet Iggy was planning to take my room.

I'll ask later because there was one thing bothering me this whole time more than everything. "Where's Max?" I asked them.

Nudge and JJ exchanged a loaded look and ordered simultaneously, "Everybody out!"

They all grumbled but left me alone with JJ, who had this big grin on her face, which began to worry me. Uh-oh, this can't be good. As soon as the door shut she pounced over and kneeled next to the bed, her eyes big and innocent. Her voice held a bit of mischievousness to it as she asked sweetly, "Who's Max?"

Oh dear god, now I see what she's getting at. "Why do you want to know?" I asked cautiously.

She smiled and started to explin, "Because I got a text from Iggy saying you and someone named Max were getting cozy but that's a guys name and I know your not gay so I checked the picture and saw you and some girl but I had no idea who she was. Then my mom drags me onto a flight to D.C and all the sudden I'm here."

I sighed, knowing there's absolutely no way to get out of this without being pestered until they know every single detail.

"She's my new neighbor, but don't believe anything that text says, we were watching a movie and we fell asleep."

"First I was mad you didn't tell me about her but now you go on a date with her and you don't tell me! I thought we were friends!" gasps JJ.

"I wouldn't tell you anyway and let me rephrase that, we _all_ were watching a movie."

"Oh, that changes things"

The door opened and none other than Max came in. She looked around a few seconds until her eyes landed on JJ who was staring at her and she immediately put her guard up and equaled their stares dead-on. JJ cringed and looked at me for help. Of course, I was just watching in amusement how Max dealt with strangers the whole time.

"JJ, this is Max. Max, this is my friend JJ." I introduced them.

Max continued to stare and said simply, "hello"

JJ immediately perked up and said very cheerfully, "Oh! Your Max! I heard about you. Wow, you're even prettier than Iggy said. But, he didn't say pretty he said hot because he is a sexist pig. And Fang," she put quotation marks in the air with her fingers "dumped Lisa for you. Well, I know it's not true but I like to think that because Lisa was just horrible. I honestly don't know why Fang went out with her. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

JJ started to make her way across the room to Max, but I jumped out of bed and stood in between them, "Nope. No hugging. I would like for you to leave the room in one piece."

She look panicked while she answered, "Why? I love hugging. I can't just not hug someone in a time that calls for hugging. OMG does she have the plague? She could have gotten anything in those five days while being in that room. Wasn't it in a ghost town? That is full of horrible germs. My mom is a nurse so I know these things. Oh no. We are in the same room as her we could have it too! Fang help me!" She turned and hid behind my back so that she was out of view of Max.

Max answered for me, "It depends what you mean by plague. If you mean the y. pestis kind then no. But if you mean no one hangs out with me because I scare the crap out of them before they can then, yes."

"Oh" said, coming out from behind me.

"Come on Fang, you have to fill out a victims report."

She caught my arm and dragged me out of my room and into the hallway where I stopped dead in my tracks. The hallway was nothing like the one in my house. It was lined with white doors except the one in front of me that was black with MAX printed in big purple letters. "Um where are we?" I asked her.

"We are at the F.B.I headquarters in Washington D.C. I think we might be able to go back to Arizona though because it's unlikely he gave our information out before he died."

"He died?"

"Yup. One more nightmare to get rid of"

I peered inside my room where JJ was playing cards with herself as both teams on the bed and noticed how the furniture was placed differently and there was no red blob of paint in the corner when Iggy tried to give my room some color before I attacked him. No wonder the walls and carpet are white.

Max continued to lead me down the boring hallway and into the elevator and through different office spaces, all the while getting different greetings of 'Hey Max', 'Nice to see you again Max', 'What trouble did you get into this time Max?', and when someone asked 'Is this your boyfriend Maxi?' she stood tall and glared at him until he went back to his work. Finally, we came to a stop at an office where I was sat down in a black roller chair and told to fill out a paper then write every detail about what happened that I could remember.

For the rest of the day Max gave me a tour of the whole place and we laughed while playing pranks on employees and panicked when we were caught and sent to her parents who only laughed and told us to try not to tick them off too much.

So far, this experience is turning out to be one of my favorites, the danger of it all not really occurring to me as I made one of the best friends I'll ever have.

**(MAX POV)**

Yesterday when I got to the headquarters I was introduced to JJ and I really don't know what to think of her. I'm sure she's a really cool person to hang around and all but I don't know them so I can't help it if my guard goes up and I turn defensive and rude. That's what I get for being a paranoid daughter of federal agents.

What I am most concerned about is their safety. I think we all know that being my friend comes with a price after what happened with Fang. But right now I am going to try not to think about that and the danger it's brought to him.

I wove my way through different hallways until I found a room of desks and walked around before stopping at an empty one. Once the computer was booted up and I had checked a couple of my e-mails I pretended to knock a post-it pad off the desk and went under to "find it".

There I found the seam of the carpet and tore it away revealing a stack of manila folders.

I sat with my back against the side of the desk and started leafing through the cases. Technically I'm not supposed to see these since I am not an official member of the F.B.I but a couple of my favorite agents restock this pile every month with the latest cases. None of them seemed interesting until I came across one where a man killed five people. The man kept escaping and nobody has caught him yet. But this file is only a week old. The man is named Nikolas R Walker.

Nikolas Walker. My mind blanked out while I just stared at the name. No, it can't be, this guy is 38. Fang is not that old. I flipped through the file, frantically trying to find a picture.

Finally I found one and my heart sank. Olive skin, black hair, tall, handsome. The only difference was his blue eyes.

Nikolas Walker the killer.

Fang Walker my only friend and neighbor who's first name is Nikolas.

Nikolas Walker.

Nikolas Walker.

Oh god.

No wonder his father abandoned him; he was on the run.

**Sorry it took so long. I got back to California yesterday with a ready chapter but a couple things I still had to do a lot of research on and that took a while but here it is now!**


	7. Secrets to Keep But Need to Be Told

**Sorry I haven't updated sooner but school started and that's always been really hectic for me 'cause let's just say I'm not the most responsible student. *****Gives a nervous laugh*******

**BTW: this chapter is like so emotional the I want to cry and I'm the one that wrote it. Scary.**

_**Secrets to Keep But Need to be Told**_

**(MAX POV)**

I can't face him. I can't look at him. I can't even be in the same room with him without feeling shame and guilt and end up having to leave. I really don't know what's happening to me, It's like I've hit a emotional soft spot. I didn't even feel this bad when my great-aunt died. And I even cried then. Maximum Ride does _not_ cry.

So I did what I think is best. I went to my mom and dad. It must have been about 10:30 when I crept down the hall with the file and knocked on their door. The lock clicked and the door cracked open to reveal a sleepy looking Mom but my expression must have put some adrenaline in her because she immediately straightened and asked me what I needed. So I came in and woke up my dad and started explaining, "Okay, I found a case file and I want you two to help me because it's really scaring the crap out of me and you know that it takes a lot to scare me. And I've only known them for, like, **(If you notice me going " ufbieubeiu ,**_**like**_**, ieiffheoifne a lot it's because I have a California accent and say like a lot. When I was in Ohio this lady I know was so annoyed because I say that.)**three weeks but they are really nice and I feel like I've known them forever but, like, from a distance. That sounded creepy and stalker like **(that doesn't count)** but you get my point. So I found the file and the guy that's being charged with six murders is Nikolas Walker. Not the one across the street but his dad. And no it's not a coincidence because the guy looks exactly like Fang except with blue eyes. But Fang doesn't even know. What should I do? I mean I can't just not tell him and never be able to look at him without feeling guilty. Well, I already feel like that but it will be like a thousand times worse. But if I tell him he might get mad at me. And if nobody progresses in this case then they are going to give it to you; then I'm in trouble. Oh god, pretty much all of those have a bad outcome."

They both looked shocked, whether at the case or my attitude I don't know. We all just sat in silence for a while before my dad finally answered, "How about you figure out what Fang thought of his dad first because that might help you figure out his reaction better when you tell him."

I stared at him in horror, "I'm going to tell him?"

"Well when he figures it out on his own and knows you know then what are you going to do?" he replied.

"So I just go up to him and say 'Hey Fang I thought I should let you know that your dad _murdered_ _six_ _people_ and is going to prison once _my parents_ catch him?' I don't think so"

Mom looked perplexed, "Honey, can I see the file?" I handed it to her and she started going through it, "If he's on the run then they would have contacted Annie in some way which means they would already know but here it sais they can't find her. So either she knows and is protecting her kids from him or they all know something that we don't know and are accessories to murder. You know, I'm just going to go with the first one because the second doesn't sound to good"

I closed my eyes and took long deep breaths, trying and failing to calm myself down from my crazy mood. Giving up, I opened my eyes to see my parents staring at me like I'm nuts. Although I very well could be with the way I'm acting.

Dad murmured, "I've never seen her like this Val, why do you think that this is happening? Is she even Max?"

Mom was gazing at me worriedly and whispered back, "Maybe it's cause she usually doesn't have many friends because she's afraid she'll hurt them and this is a new experience for her. Oh my goodness, I sound like a therapist"

"Can you guys please stop acting as if I'm not right in front of you?" I snapped at them angrily.

They seemed to snap back into reality and dad started ushering me out of the room and down the hall, "maybe you should go to sleep kiddo. You've had a long day here and you need some rest."

I nodded, my eyes already starting to hurt from the effort of keeping them open. The trip back to my room and into my soft bed seemed to pass in a blur and finally my eyes fluttered shut.

**(FANG POV)**

Max has been acting weird. That's really all I can say considering the language of Maximum Ride is one that is hard to decipher. Every time I even come within 20 feet of her, she'll get this guilty and far away look in her eyes and stutter some excuse to leave. But why, I have no idea.

So my plan is to catch her when she least expects it and not let her get away until she explains. And really I know she won't say a thing with her stubbornness, but a guy can only hope.

So here I am, standing at the entrance nearest Max's door in the North corridor of the F.B.I building waiting for the moment where she would slip through her door and walk down the hall to where I am.

It took a long and boring forty five but eventually she came down the hallway in her normal way with her chin held high with perfect posture and walking with pride. Typical Max. But watch her expression now.

She came my way and as she rounded the corner I used her momentum to grab her belt loops and swing her around until her back hit the wall with a loud _thump. _**(Those of you who think that's inappropriate it's because if he caught her by the arm or shoulders she could easily get him off but if he caught her by the belt loops she can't get away easily and quickly without getting out of her pants. Well, she probably could but I don't really want to hurt Fang) **As soon as the sound reached my ears I instantly was worried and brought one hand up in a comforting gesture, about to ask if she was hurt. But then again, this is Max I'm talking about; would she ever show pain? I don't think so.

She caught the hand flipped it over and twisted so a pain shot up my arm. Of course, she wasn't having just that. She spun in a full circle, successfully bringing my arm with her and twisting it farther and causing even more pain.

Now, I should be afraid considering this girl's reputation shouldn't I? Well not today because I am fully aware that she could be arrested for possession of weapons by anyone in this building so she obviously doesn't have a gun. So I got right up in her face and in her moment of surprise at our proximity I swept her feet from under her but caught her before she fell. Picking her back up I once again put her back against the wall but held my elbows low this time and was ready so that if she ducked to get away I would be ready and duck to, then make it impossible to get out with my elbows. Smart me.

"I should have never taught you that," she said, anger in her voice, probably because she was beat.

"Your fault. You were the one who taught me a lot of things that some days I will use against you"

"Yes, and I definitely regret it. Big time."

"Okay let's cut the small talk and get to the point. Why are you avoiding me?" Here it comes.

Sure enough that same guilty expression came across her face and she avoided my searching and piercing gaze. "I'm not avoiding you," her tone was softer now.

No matter how hard I tried her gaze could never hold with mine for more than a split second as I said, "Yes you are. We are trapped all day in this building and the few people I know are you and your parents. Max, I see your parents more often that I see you lately and they are working all day. And everyday I pass you in the hall but when you notice me you automatically turn a corner and when I try to catch up with you your gone. Your mom makes up excuses to why I can't hang out with you or at least ask you a completely random question so that I can make sure you're okay. The only way I can have a decent conversation with you is to catch you off guard and possibly die in the process. But most of all I can see the guilt and shame in your eyes, and the secrets…secrets that you're keeping from everyone, from me." My voice dropped to a soft whisper, "Max, you're worrying me"

I could see the tears welling in her eyes as she whispered back, "I'm sorry."

She shoved me back in attempt to escape, something I was not prepared for, and raced down the hallway and out of sight.

I sighed and slid down the wall ant into a sitting position on the hard tile floor. What could be so important that she would get this emotional?

**(MAX POV)**

I raced through the empty hallways to escape Fang's heartfelt words that echoed through my mind. The room I was going to was not used by many people. In fact, most don't know it even exists. I came to the right door and pushed it open. It's a simple room with white walls and ceiling, black granite floors and a beautiful grand piano sitting in the center. Slowly, I walked towards it and ran my fingers over the dusty keys. I sat down gently and began to play.

I need another story  
Something to get off my chest…

(**Secrets by OneRepublic)**


	8. Can't or Won't?

_**Can't or Won't?**_

There is no manual to life. You can't read through a simple handbook and expect to be an expert in the next twenty minutes. When trying something you've never done before, with or without that manual, you're going to make a few mistakes. Take it from me and my twelve attempts to tell Fang the secret that could or could not ruin his life.

It started out when he cornered me in the hallway and made me cry for the second time that week. I was so close to just breaking down and telling him right there. The next was in the cafeteria where all I had to do was take one step toward where he and his brother sat before I chickened out and ran away. Then there was one a week later where he and my dad were playing darts on the old beat-up dartboard and I was almost killed by my father's dart. Guess he can't be good at everything, can he?

These attempts go on and on and on. It's always I come, catch sight of him and run, or I come up to him and say, "Hi. Bye," and run off.

Today I'm going to try again. But at my many failed attempts I decided to take a new plan of action.

I walked through crowded hallways and busy offices until coming at a stop at a door with "FANG" scrawled across it in black paint. Gathering all my courage, I began to knock. But didn't. My hand simply froze half an inch from hitting the solid white door. Another deep breath and I tried again. _Knock knock knock._

I waited for a good two minutes and began to walk away when a hand grabbed me from behind. I spun around, only to face-to-face with a sleepy Fang standing there in a simple black t-shirt and sweatpants. I took a step back, my face flushing in embarrassment at our close proximity.

"Hi," I mumbled.

"Hey," he mumbled back.

"Why are you so sleepy?" I asked, noticing how he stumbled like he'd been sleeping a while and his really messed up hair.

"Anyone who's your friend, Max, needs a lot of sleep to keep up."

I chuckled and stepped around him into his room.

Fang shut the door and sat on his bed, "so why are you here?"

I quickly lied, knowing the truth wouldn't be any good right now, "I was bored"

"No you weren't." He responded quietly.

I spun around to face him, "What?"

"Max, I can read you like a book. You weren't bored, you came here for a reason."

I quickly changed the subject, "Let's play a game"

Fang frowned at the change but went along anyway, "what game?"

I came and sat next to him on the bed. "I am and you are"

"What's that?"

"It's where I say something about myself and you have to say that same thing except about yourself"

He looked wary as he said, "okay"

"Let's start simple. My name is Maximum Ride"

"My name is Nickolas Walker"

I pang of guilt hit me as I realized what I was doing when I play this game. This is my way of interrogating him.

"Okay, my favorite colors are purple and black"

"My favorite colors are black and black"

"When my family wants to annoy me they call me Maximus" **(If you're reading this Jocelyn (Nudge): Mr. Krier calls me Celestia (it sounds Roman, doesn't it?) and for the Imovies I had to choose between being called Maximus or Celestia)**

"My family calls me Nicolet to annoy me"

As I fell over, laughing uncontrollably, I completely forgot about the secret I was keeping from him, my form of interrogation, and the fact that we were sitting in the headquarters of the F.B.I. Now it was just Fang and I, sitting on his bed and playing an innocent game from when I was little. Laughing, talking, and most of all, not caring. Not caring that any minute now, if it's necessary, I may have to tell him. No Max! Stop! You're thinking about it again!

Soon enough my vision blurred with tears that threatened to pool over. I blinked rapidly, hoping to get rid of them, but they just kept coming. Finally, a single drop of water slid down my cheek. Why cry at this, though? So much emotion has been bottled up inside of that, when I cry it either takes something really soothing or absolutely nothing to calm me down. The tears continued to flow as I realized something else, a question that I'm sure will never cease to haunt me.

Why do I care?

They're all the same as any other people I've met in my life. They all have a secret whether they know it or not. It could range from stealing a pack of gum to rape, but it's still a secret nonetheless.

I've only known them for a month, yet I care so much. For all of them, really. But as you read this, notice how I don't think of Anne, Iggy, Nudge, or even their visiting friends, J.J, Ella, or Dylan, but only Fang. Fang is who I care about the most.

Fang.

Fang.

Fang.

Doesn't that say something?

The words have been in my heart and mind the whole time, there but never surfacing and coming to realization that I like him. I like him a little too much.

The sudden realization sends me over the edge and I find myself off the bed and stumbling backwards as my lips mumble the same name incoherently, "Fang. Fang. FANG."

As I lost my footing, the same strong arms that I'm sure I've dreamed of once or twice were suddenly around my waist and guiding me gently to a sitting position on his lap where I sobbed uncontrollably into his chest. The whole time he was murmuring soothing words into my hair.

Even though I knew I should stand off and brush it off as if it were nothing, I couldn't seem to do it. It felt like I belong as he held me firmly in his arms. It's was just Fang. The Fang I want but can't have. Yes, you heard me right, I can't have him. I mean whaat good will it do to him or me when I have to suddenly get up and leave without so much as a warning.

Minutes passed, but eventually I calmed down enough to pull away and say, "Sorry for the spontaneous breakdown"

But Fang didn't chuckle like he usually would, just simply stared at me with a searching gaze. "Max" he said softly.

"Yeah" I answered even though I knew it wasn't really a question.

"Remember when I said that you're worrying me"

"Uh-hu," I sniffled and avoided his gaze.

"Well multiply that by a million. That isn't even half of what I'm feeling now. I mean, do you usually just burst into tears in the middle of a useless game?"

_ Useless. Not entirely useless, Fang._

Another tear ran down my cheek and Fang brushed it away with his thumb. I glanced up through my eyelashes at his face and noticed something that I didn't think I would see very much. His mask was off.

His emotions played across his face in a constant stream. _Confusion, worry, determination, sadness, shock_, but what surprised me the most was the one that seemed to be repeating itself. _Love_.

Whether it was a friendly love for best friends or more I didn't know or care. All that mattered is that he _loves_ me.

He stared down at me and brushed some hair from out of my eyes.

"You're hiding," his voice was barely a whisper but had such an impact it was as if he were screaming, it wouldn't make much of a difference.

"No, I'm right here"

"But you're hiding _something"_

I looked down and hoped he wouldn't notice the guilt as it settled on my face.

Well, there's no use in hiding now, "I can't tell you"

"You can't or you won't?"

**Well, this chapter seems to be just switching from one realization to the next, but the thing is that it started out regularly (like, action filled) but then I **_**really **_**wanted fax. I mean, I've been waiting nine chapters for it! I had a really action-packed brilliant idea (I'm so full of myself) for you guys and I promise that's next. (Well, the one after the next) But what I realize is that I have tons of action in these first chapters and tons planned for the next ones, but no fax. So I'm putting that in. The reason for that is that I know some read this for the action and some read it for the romance. Or you read it for both. I'm just trying to incorporate both in and not have one side dominate, you know?**


	9. Running Isn't Always the Right Decision

**Thanks to my special guest writer: Nudge/Jocelyn/Hated-ppl-friend**

**Reasons I love my readers:**

**Most of you actually **_**read**_** the writing at the top and bottom of the page**

**You guys just ROCK (although not as much as My Chemical Romance, 'cause come on they do ROCK. Like, literally.)**

**143 reviews and not one flame (but plenty of constructive criticism which is totally okay)**

**You guys don't think I'm too obsessed with guns and if you do you don't mention it (I'm so going for rifle line this season in colorguard)**

**Even my friend Nudge (we all have our own MR character) bothers me every day to write a new chapter. Even when I tell her how it ends.**

**BTW) this chapter is kind of short but I promise you that you will not be mad at me when you read it (at least I hope not. You might. It depends if you like my story or not)**

_**Running Isn't Always the Right Decision**_

When you're faced with an issue, the way to deal with it is always even bigger of a problem than the problem itself. That doesn't make sense right? Until I was face with a personal issue that I have no clue what to do with, I never realized how true that is.

I mean, I could deal with it plenty of ways. I could come right out and tell him. I could try to keep it a secret for as long as possible. I could butter him up and hope he's doesn't flip out on me.

But no, I couldn't bring myself to those issues so I chose to do something that really wouldn't solve anything other that my new hatred of federal buildings.

I escape.

I may not be locked in a cell all day in a bright orange jumpsuit and shackles, but it sure does feel like it. Really I can leave whenever I want to but I just haven't. I've begged my mom so many times to just go back to our last house but she's working on a case and won't let me go home alone. Even when I'm home alone almost all the time on a regular basis.

So today I'm leaving to wander the city. Well, at least downtown.

**(Sorry to those of you who live in Washington D.C. and notice how this is totally un-realistic this is but there aren't many maps and pictures of the kind of places I want and I've never been there so bear with me here)**

Walking in Washington D.C. alone was like being a rat in a maze. People everywhere, shops lining the streets, and hobo's at every corner. It's beautiful really. Cool-looking buildings, trees scattered around, and busy streets filled with dozens of cars. I continued walking, enjoying the fresh air and beautiful day. Turns out, that's as good as my day was going to get.

Walking into a store I saw Fang out of the corner of my eye. Or I thought it was him. I spun on my heel to examine him more closely. The same black hair, beautiful olive skin, and strong build, but something was different. He walked with the confidence of a king, head held high, cold eyes glaring at nothing, and an arrogant aura that you can't miss. But there wasn't the emotion-less, dark, and handsome guy that I had come to know. No, it was the same but totally different. It was Fang just older and with electric blue eyes. It was Fang's dad.

He walked down the crowded sidewalks, seeming to distract people with his hostile look and insane handsomeness. He looked as though he was trying to put together a puzzle piece, but had that one piece that was tarred at the corner and wouldn't exactly fit the way he wanted it. I knew I shouldn't follow him but my curiosity got the best of me. As he turned the corner, I took a quick 360 to make sure no one was watching and followed. Soon after he stopped in his tracks and turned. I though he noticed me following so I immediately dropped to the ground and hid behind a massive heap of garbage. He walked forward, towards me, and instinctively my hand went to my weapon. Just before he reached my hiding spot another man stepped out of nowhere and started talking to him.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this Nich?" The strange man asked, "we don't even know if he'll cooperate."

'He's my son of course he'll cooperate!" My eyes flew wide and I covered my mouth so I wouldn't gasp when he mentioned Fang, "Plus, if he doesn't we can take that girl he's been hanging around with, Maximum. She's some Fed around here."

"That's my point! It's too dangerous and risky. Do you know how many connections he has now? At the ghost town he had at least a hundred cops after him. Imagine what it'll be like now with _you_ in the picture."

Nicholas shrugged like it was no big deal, "Okay, so I'll take her out."

The man sighed and shook his head, "I've been around here long enough to know that she's not just some Fed's daughter. She's the Ride's daughter. You know you can't go against them."

This only seemed to interest him farther, "A Ride. That's interesting." He went over and clapped a hand on the stranger's shoulder, "You just made my decision. I'm going after her."

With that they walked out of sight. I swear I was about to follow both of them when a strong hand grabbed my shoulder. Instinctively I turned around and pointed my gun at the man.

"Calm down Max. It's just me." I recognized one of the guys who worked for my mom and lowered my gun. When I did the guy regained his composure and said, "You scared all of us! Come back with me now young lady! And put away that gun before some one sees it!" I laughed coldly; he should know that I don't take orders well.

"First of all I'm almost eighteen. Second, you do _not_ order me around." To emphasize my point I tripped him as he walked by me, furious. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing as he screamed like a little girl.

After a painfully long ride back to the building and a short and non-successful interrogation by mom and dad on how I really shouldn't be leaving the building (which I don't get why), I went to my room and got into bed, not bothering to change, and attempted (unsuccessfully) to fall asleep.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The alarm clock woke me this morning. I was a loud shrill, long and hard, and only seemed to annoy me more than I already was. I stared miserably for a minute at the blinking date, practically mocking me. _June 27, 2010_.

There's only one thing you can do when you stay up all night after a long and eventful day. You think. You think of possibilities. Of luck. And today that's what I'm doing. I'm testing my luck. Translation: I'm telling him.

I swung my long legs over the side of the bed, rubbed my sleep-deprived eyes, and changed into my comfiest Looney Tunes pajama pants and Linkin Park t-shirt. I lazily ran a brush through my tangled hair, not brushing it but more like pulling it out of my eyes.

I dragged myself through countless hallways and elevators until I was sitting on a table in an empty interrogation room with seven empty cans of Diet Coke strewn around me. Apparently caffeine doesn't have any effect on me. I just sat there, staring at the ceiling and trying to arrange my thoughts. I didn't work in the slightest. It's like a ball of yarn. You untangle the massive knot, pull it a little farther, and find a whole new knot twice as big appears.

Hours passed, and finally the door opened and in came Fang, with a frown on his face. He saw me, laying on the table, and came over. Wordlessly he gestured for me to sit up. I did, and he climbed up and sat opposite me. His hands came out and suspended in mid-air, pointer fingers out. I allowed myself a small smile and stuck out my own. We stayed in complete silence, playing round after round of chop-sticks until my hands began to ache.

Sighing, I dropped my hands and closed my eyes. I opened my eyes slowly, my heart beating wildly in my chest as I spoke the words that I was never prepared to say but did anyways, "Fang, I need to tell you something."

**Uh-hu. Do you like it? 'Cause I do. Yup. Akward silence. Um, if you guys want to know something really embarrassing about me then go to this story,** .net/s/6452177/1/MAX_IN_PINK_one_shot

**It's really embarrassing. It involves me (Max) and a guy I know (Fang) Almost everything is true. Ya, bye.**

**TOLD YA -MAX-FANGALICIOUS-**


	10. Realization Cured With FAX

**I guess I need to put a disclaimer in here, huh? I was trying to put it off as long as possible but it's nagging at the back of my brain to put it in, so I will.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. Although, if James Patterson would were to give me it, I'd be overjoyed and I'd make it so that so no one had to put these things in here and you'd all be kissing the ground I walk on. Just saying.**

**Um, you'll see in this chapter that I took Ella and Dylan out of there because, really, there's no way to incorporate them with the plot at the moment. I'll probably put them back in later, though.**

**Celeste: Hey everyone! Guess whose back!**

**Nudge: ME! I'm back!**

**Celeste: For all of you who think it's just Nudge, it's really a person her name is…**

**Nudge: JOCELYN!**

**Celeste: OW...god. My ears Nudge!**

**Nudje: Kay enjoy!**

**Fang POV**

_"Fang, I need to tell you something"_

Max looked at me and I nodded encouragingly. She took a deep breath and laid down so that her head dangled over the side, her hair swaying around and effectively blocking my view of her face.

"Okay, here goes nothing," She started, "Well, I tend to come her a lot and I get bored so I have some on my friends here load up a desk with recent case files.

"When I found them they were all relatively boring. You know, insurance frauds, bank robberies, and stolen cars. That kind of thing, but there was only one the caught my eye."

She brought her hand up and brushed some hair out her way to look at me. Her voice was smaller now, "Um, there was one. A….man….killed five people. Nobody knows why. They all seem so random. They all have no connection, different ages, locations, jobs, and what not. They tried contacting the family but they couldn't find them for some reason."

**(I knew no one would read this unless I put it at a random spot so ATTENTION: ELLA AND DYLAN DO NOT EXIST ANYMORE IN THIS FANFICTION…just…erase them from your minds as of… NOW….…anyway, keep reading 'cause you guys rock)**

"So what does that have to do with anything that's been going on lately?"

"Well… His name is…. Come on Max! Suck it up….." She took a deep, long breath, "His name is Nickolas Walker."

At first I thought she was only joking, playing some elaborate scam she's been cooking up for days now, planning to scare the crap out of me. But as I looked back on all of the avoiding, tears, and guilt, I knew she wasn't joking.

I stared at her, my eyes frantic and wide, as she brought something from behind her and let it fall onto the cold, metal table. She slowly brought the lid open with a finger to reveal a large, single paper sized photo of my dad. His hair was tussled, eyes staring lazily into the camera of his latest mugshot,. I stared at it, not wanting to believe what she said.

My mood quickly changed to anger when I realized that Max had kept it from me for so long. That quickly diminished though as I realized that I would have probably done the same thing.

Really it wasn't her fault. She came across it on accident, didn't want to hurt my feelings or ruin my time with her so she just decided not to tell me. It was totally okay.

Who am I kidding, any normal person would be at least the slightest mad at her. Curse Max and her amazing beauty and perfectness. It only took her three short weeks to get me to fall head over heals for her.

Max was the first to speak up, "Look, Fang, I would have told you sooner. Really, I would have but I didn't want you to hate me. And you looked like you were having a great time with us and JJ is okay, and you know that's a lot coming from me. But, oh god I don't know. Oh no, you do hate me, don't you!" Her voice raised every word and by the end she was shouting. "Fang I'm sorry! Really, really sorry! Please don't…be…...mad" She trailed off as I moved closer to her.

"No, I'm not mad. Really, I'm not," I brought my hand up to brush some of the fallen hair out of her frightened eyes, "I probably would have done the same thing. And really he was an ass to my family and I can't say I'm not surprised but I'm sure many people saw that one coming"

My previous thoughts clouded my mind, Max and the fact that se actually _cared_ about me being my soul priority.

**(I had Nudge write this 'cause I couldn't bear too. It's cute and makes the chapter not as serious)**

"Fang, what're you doing?" Max whispered her face turning bright red. When I thought about her question I realized something... I realized that I had no idea what I was doing. For once in my life I was just doing, not thinking.

"I don't know Max. I really don't know." I whispered back, pulling her closer. I could tell part of her wanted to resist but she didn't, her body going against her better judgment, which would be to stay far, far away from me in my current state of complete stupidity.

"Fang, what if someone walks in?" By now our foreheads were touching.

"I really don't care." She was going to object but I closed the small space between us and kissed her. At first she hesitated but soon gave in. She played with my hair, tugging at it and messing it up. I put my hand on the back of her neck to deepen the kiss. Not a good idea since that was the only thing keeping us up. We fell, Max on top, and onto the table, my back making an audible _thud_ against the hard metal of the table. I chuckled and pulled away. We were both breathing heavily

"You know Max. I completely forgot what you said just now." She smiled and put her forehead to mine.

"Yah, me too." After that no one spoke. It was a comfortable silence and it wasn't broken for maybe a few minutes, until... "Crap!" Max yelled getting up and pulling me along with her.

"What?" I asked back in my normal Fangish tone, but .

"There are cameras in every room!"

"So?" I said not getting her point.

"So... There are cameras in this room!" She yelled, furiously fixing my hair.

"Yah. So wha-" I stopped short just releasing that meant out little make out session was recorded. "Crap." I said letting some emotion show in my voice. Max nodded vigorously, grabbed my hand and ran out of the room, leaving all thoughts of Nikolas Walker in the room.

We ran though various halls, passing people and sneaking past security guards, when finally we got to a room that said '_Camera Room DO NOT ENTER!'_ Max tried to open the door but it was locked. I heard her curse under her breath. She bent down and started picking the lock, when the knob turned and the door opened to reveal a smiling Nudge, JJ, and Iggy.

"Oh Fu**" We said at the same time.


	11. We're Not A Mob

**This chapter is dedicated to "Peppermint" because they reviewed literally two hours before I published and I was like, "Okay, okay. Just give me a minute!"**

**I re-read the first chapter and was like, "WHOA!" because I really don't get how people ever read this if my grammar was THAT bad. So, I spent the first half of today re-writing it to make it better. Along with this one there will be a new and improved first chapter that will hopefully not make the rest seem crappy.**

** BTW: Feel free to review like two days after I've published this (or now, I really don't mind as long as you review at all) because that's what really keeps me motivated. Like, in the past few days I've had four, I think. And now here I am writing this one and a re-write.**

MAX'S POV

I decided my life was officially over. I tell my very best friend _ever _that his dad is a _serial killer_ and what does he do? Ho goes and _kisses me_.

Do you seriously not see anything jacked-up about that?

And not only that, but now it's on camera and the serial killers son's adoptive (mom had told me that earlier) brother has seen it _and _got it on camera to show everyone.

I'm Maximum Ride. Do you know how far me kissing a guy in an interrogation room will go for black mail? VERY FAR.

And then there's the issue of Nudge, Iggy, and JJ most likely hearing my little confession, there. Yeah, my life is so more complicated then the average teenagers.

And hear I am, looking at three devious minds that could either:

1)break down crying about the whole serial killer thing

2)be furious about the whole serial killer thing

3)be furious at _me _about the whole serial killer thing

4)totally ruin my life with the whole making out in interrogation room thing

And of course, once again having the most complicated life ever, the world has decided to curse me with the last of those. Kill me now.

Iggy leaned against the metal doorway, the smirk evident on his face. He made googley eyes and put his hand to his heart going, "Fang, what're you doing? I don't know Max. I really don't know. What if someone walks in? I really don't care," He put his hand on his forehead and faked exasperation, "Oh Fang! I love you! Oh Max! I love you too. Will you marry me?"

Fang shook his head, "Not cool, man. Not cool."

Horror stricken, I asked, "You didn't happen to hear all of that, did you?"

Iggy shook his head, confused, "We would have, "he raised his voice, "if JJ hadn't messed up the cameras!"

JJ walked up behind Iggy, "Hey! I'm not the computer wiz! You're the one who spends your time on the computer all day!"

"Not _all day_. Nudge is always hogging it! She should have done it."

Nudge pushed passed them, blowing on her bright pink nails, "I _just_ did these. There is no way I can touch something for the next 10 minutes."

Iggy sighed, "Well, no, we missed it. But we tuned in just in time to see your little session there."

I began to protest, "No! It wasn't that, trust me. Um…it was a spur of the moment thing. Totally meant nothing." Involuntarily, my cheeks flushed and took a step back, only to bump into Fang's chest and make it all more awkward.

He grabbed my hands to steady me before we both fell over. Iggy smiled, "Oh really because your hands seem to be saying differently."

I looked down at my hand that was still in Fang's and pulled it back to my side while taking a step away from him. He kept his emotionless façade but a flash of hurt struck his eyes.

Fang chimed in then, "Iggy, come on. Give it a rest. She doesn't like it and, really, you know what happens when you get on her bad side."

Iggy pouted like the true kid he is, " Fine. But we are so talking about this later. You know, man to man."

"More like man to five-year-old" Fang murmured under his breath.

I couldn't help it, I giggled. I giggled like the giddy teenage schoolgirl I am at the moment. As soon as it was over, though, I clamped my hand over my mouth and mentally swore at least twenty times.

Way to go, Max. You sure don't like him.

Everyone except Fang's eyes flew wide.

"Did she just giggle or are my ears messed up?" JJ asked.

Nudge was next. And get this; it was a whole two words, "Holy shit."

"Oh dear god, please don't let this be the apocalypse," typical Iggy.

I groaned and stomped down the hall, my footsteps echoing. The last thing I heard before turning the corner was from JJ, "Well that went well."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The rest of the day was spent in my room, silently cleaning the only weapons my parents allowed me to sneak in.

The last thing I needed in my life was the highlight of any girl's life: drama.

I've had to deal with killers, con men, guns, intruders and _the president;_ but never have I had to deal with _drama._

So now I have a serial killer's son who doesn't even seen to _care_ that his dad's a serial killer. Then, this son decides to kiss me and have me totally embarrassed in front of his best friend and family who now have it on tape.

Oh, and did I mention that this serial killer/father may or may not be planning to kidnap me to get his son involved in something? Huh, talk about hectic.

Really, I should be in protective custody or witness protection but what good will that do? I don't want to leave my life behind and just dump my problems on other people. And if Nickolas Walker wants Fang for his own game, then he's going to have to work for it.

I sighed, content with my decision to do everything I can for Fang and put my stuff away before falling back on the bed. I switched the small lamp on the wall off, fully expecting to go to sleep, before a knock sounded.

I groaned and yelled quite harshly, "WHAT?"

A low chuckle made it's way to my ears before the door was opened and Fang was standing there in all his dark glory.

Just what I need to ruin my sleep for tonight.

"What do you want?" I asked and my cheeks involuntarily flushed. Cursed blood and its need to make me look like a tomato.

His eyebrows shot up, "Our little 'spur of the moment'"

I sighed, knowing he was right and scooted over, patting the bed next to me. He came over and lay down next to me, turning on his side to face me. For a while we sat (or laid, rather) in silence. Finally Fang broke it, "I talked to JJ earlier."

"And?"

"She thinks I'm crazy."

I laughed and lifted my eyes to meet his, "Care to elaborate?"

"Apparently if I ever involve myself with you then within a month I'll be killed off."

"I highly doubt that. I do own seventeen guns, remember?" I admit it; I was smiling. Just the thought of Fang being in the same room as me makes me smile.

I continued, "And who said you'll ever be involved with me?"

He rolled his eyes, "I kissed you today! That already binds us. Now, we are forever imprinted on each other."

"Ooo, way to go all werewolf on me." Suddenly, a realization hit me, "Oh my god! You read twilight, didn't you?"

He looked horrified and scared at the same time, "No! Of course not! I was forced to see it by Nudge! Oh god no." He shuddered for good measure.

Suddenly, he became serious, "Max, we're supposed to be having an actual conversation here!"

I calmed my self down, "Okay shoot."

"I want you to know that I don't care."

I sighed, "Complete, comprehendible sentences please."

"I honestly don't care if my dad is…who he is."

I frowned, "Fang, that's pretty big. I don't know if you can just forgive and forget in this kind of situation."

"No Max. I haven't seen him in a long time and when I did know him, he wasn't that great of a father or husband. My family doesn't know and frankly, I don't really want them to know. Mom will feel insanely guilty for ever letting him be around us and the others probably won't take it very well. So I'm not forgiving him but I will try my best to forget."

A sudden pang of guilt hit me as I thought, _That will be pretty hard, considering he's planning on kidnapping us._

"I don't know…" Baby steps Max. Just wait till tomorrow.

"Just trust me, okay?" he paused for a second, "Now, moving onto the next subject. You-"

I mock gasped, "I get my own subject? How flattering!"

He chuckled, "You're awesome, but not _that _awesome. I was actually going to say 'you and me'"

I once again cursed that thick red liquid inside us that keeps our hearts beating as it flooded my cheeks.

"Oh," my voice was soft.

"Yeah, _oh,_" he stared at me, silently urging me to speak.

"Well, we could either forget about that and move on with our highly complicated lives _or _we could try to be something and see how that goes considering our crime and anti-crime families."

"You make us sound like we're a mob!"

"Well, like father like son. You never know."

He stared at me, "Not funny."

"Okay, I'll keep my twisted humor to myself."

I continued, "But you haven't decided"

He sighed, realizing the decision of 'us' is in his court, "Hey, I was the one who kissed you so you already know how I feel. So really it's up to you."

I smiled brightly and kissed him. He smiled back against my lips. And exactly like earlier, it melted all my problems away.

For now.

**SO at the end here I made it kind of serious but joking at the same time, not only to make it seem as if they can be together and not have everything very serious and sad but so that they have their whole 'I feel uncomfortable during mushy conversations so I'm going to try to make a joke out of it' kind of atmosphere.**


	12. A Single Tear Goodbye

**Have you guys noticed how early I updated this? Another point for Max! (That's me in case you're wondering…) **

**And now a note for my friends: (I do that a lot, huh?)**

**Angel: I you are reading this you'll notice I didn't redo the fighting. I was just to lazy. And I just read your Max-Dan-Wiz profile! And left a comment.**

**Nudge: Same for you. **

**Is this chapter too short? If it is, please tell me and I'll try and make the next longer.**

**Fanfic suggestion: You have to read ****Diamond in the Ruff ****by ****NightWriter511! ****It was recently finished and I LOVE it! And she reviewed for me! Eek!**

_**A Single Tear = Goodbye**_

Fang ran up behind me, tickling my sides. I stood straight as a board, doing my best to keep my laughter in. Despite my attempts, a large smile broke out on my face, "Not working Fang. You're not going to tickle me."

He sighed and came in front of me, walking backwards, "You're really not ticklish? That can't be possible."

I reached down and intertwined my fingers with his and pulled him towards me, "Any thing is possible. I'm Maximum Ride, remember?"

He threw his head back and laughed with a full-blown smile that seemed to make him shine, "That's not true. Have you ever tried slamming a revolving door?"

I smirked, "Yes I have. And a guys brief-case got caught in it, therefore making it slam. Of course, that proceeded to somehow start a shooting in the building because someone thought that if my dad was stuck in there, it was an easy kill. Boy were they wrong." His smile faded.

"The one time I try to make a joke you ruin it," I smiled sheepishly, "but hey that's why I like you. Maximum Ride the killjoy of the party."

"Yeah and I like you because you're Fang, life of the party" I hit him playfully, then just for good measure I leaned up kissed him and ran away. We ran for a good ten minutes along the streets of Washington D.C before I let him catch me.

Mom had finally let us leave the building without an agent. It took a lot of pestering, convincing arguments, and quite a few weapons being hid on me, but in the end, the let us go.

"OK, you caught me. Now what?" I asked looking up into his beautiful black eyes.

"Revenge. But not now." He smirked that special Fang-smirk that makes my heart melt. We just stood there for what seemed like eternity, until the buzzing of my phone interrupted our little moment. I reluctantly picked it up.

"Hello?" I asked, still smiling like an idiot.

"_Hello Maximum Ride."_ I knew that voice. It was deep but curious, dark and velvety smooth. Then it hit me. My eyes flew wide and my hand went to my mouth to stop me from gasping.

"You. How did you get my number?" I looked at Fang you could tell he was worried because he let little emotion show in his eyes. I waved him away and started to walk away at a fast pace, leaving behind to stare at my retreating figure as I left.

"_I have my sources Maximum." _I heard a deep chuckle.

"And I have mine. Enough to locate and shoot you, anyways," I was furious, yes. But I couldn't help it as my more daring side came out and rejoiced at the new adventure, reveling in it like a child would to a smoothie.

"Oh, but I don't think if young Nickolas would like it if you killed his daddy. Or, sorry, he goes by _Fang _now, right?"

"Maybe. But I really don't think he would mind much. Really, he knows how much of a soulless bastard you are."

I stopped and did a 360, feeling venerable.

"Soulless bastard? Sais the seventeen-year-old girl who's killed at least ten people."

"Four, actually. And how many have you? Killed, that is."

I heard the underlying warning in his voice, "Ha-ha. Maybe later I'll tell you. In the mean time, would you care to tell me your location?"

Involuntarily, I put my un-occupied hand on my cocked hip, "And how would I be so completely idiotic and stupid as to do that."

I could practically feel him shrugging, "Suit yourself. It's not like I don't already know it."

The line went dead and started its continuous dial-tone as I stared down at it, wide-eyed.

"Aw, shit!"

As soon as the phone's robotic voice started, "We're sorry, if you'd like to make a call pl-" I dropped it and started to run.

My long legs pounded against the pavement- a rhythmic beat, much like the fast paced one of my racing heart.

I shoved innocent passerby's of my way and didn't acknowledge their cries of defense. Ahead I saw Fang, right where I left him, and yelled, "Get back to headquarters! NOW!"

Fang shook his head, a worried expression shinning in his eyes, and started towards me. I internally sighed. So Fang.

I tried again, this time my voice a little more frantic, "Fang, go!"

I was close now, only an intersection blocking me from him. But right as I got there, the light turned green and my stomach flopped. Instinctively, my hand was at the gun hooked to my belt, gripping it tightly as I span in a circle, waiting for the cars to pass.

My breathing came raggedly as I watched, analyzing closely every crack, every piece of discarded trash. But it was wasted.

Soon, I felt the constricting hand on my arm, attempting to pull me back. My head whipped to the side and I saw the stocky man, his slick lips curving into a smile as he said, "I think I've got her."

I responded, my own mouth curving into a smile, "Not quite, pipsqueak."

My right arm shot out to grab his on my arm, twisting it, much like an Indian burn. I spun in a circle and brought his arm with me. His pain only continued as he flipped over my hip and ended up on his back, splattered on the sidewalk.

He grunted, came up and glared with icy eyes, "Your quick, I'll give you that."

I crossed my arms over my chest, "Where is he?"

"That's a good question."

He lunged again and my arm shot out again, my fist landing solidly on his shoulder. He grunted but continued his furies of punches and kicks. A crowd had grown by now, curious but cautious.

As he went in for a roundhouse kick, I ducked and slid back, coming up behind him. He started to turn, but my arm was already around his neck, holding him tightly; my other with a gun, resting on his lower back, out of the view if the crowd.

I growled in his ear, "Where is he?"

Before he could answer though, more hands grabbed at me.

I gasped and spun but they already had two of my hidden guns and were gripping me with steal arms. I struggled, my hands lashed out hear and there to run my nails down their arms and my legs kicked aimlessly.

The men, most likely 4 or 5 of them, pushed me back into the alley. From the entrance I saw Fang as I was dragged, on the other side of the block. I watched as he shouted helplessly, "No!"

His guard was down; a broken and pained expression the soul thing showing as the light finally turned red and he ran across the street. But it was too late.

Just like before, I was shoved harshly into a van behind he. This time was different, though. There was no Fang to be there and comfort me. There was no Fang to stop me before I threw some witty comment in people's faces and get hurt because of. There was no Fang to stare at during those long hours while I'm locked in some small and dingy room.

Because Fang was at the opening to the alley, staring at me in horror. We locked eyes and I silently mouthed, "Fang."

As I said it a single tear ran down his cheek. And just like that the van door closed, and he was gone.


	13. One Phone Call

**This chapter seems really rushed to me, but when I tried to write it another way that one came out even worse. So, I think this is the best I can do on this one. I hope it sounds better in your brain than it does in mine. **

**(MAX POV)**

My eyes fluttered open lazily, and I stared blankly at an unfamiliar white ceiling. There was a dull aching in my muscles, and I winced as it became progressively stronger.

My head turned to the sides and took in the scene around me. The room seemed dull, despite the bright fluorescent lights. It was blank, white walls and linoleum floors, and nothing on the walls. There was no furniture, just a simple, metal bed pressed up against the wall, it's shiny surface reflecting the lights. The room itself is small, maybe nine feet by ten feet, enough to walk around in, but the blank walls seem to blend together, making it seem claustrophobic.

I took short breath and stopped mid-way, not only because of the aching my body was going through, but the _horrible _smell. The air reeked strongly of antiseptic and sterilizers, making my nose scrunch up in constant disgust. I've never really had an issue myself with doctors, but my mom had once gone through a case of doctors who experimented on _children. _They would cut them open and give them alternate DNA, then force them to fight and survive against vicious dogs. Now, any time I even _think _about a hospital, I want to shudder and puke. Especially now in god-knows-wherever.

Yesterday-or whenever that was- clicked in my brain, and suddenly I was hastily scrambling out of the bed, but only managing to trip over the tangled sheets and fall to the floor.

The air was knocked out of me and I took a sharp intake of breath, my lungs burning painfully. _What? Why am I so weak?_

Images rushed liked a movie through my brain; talking to Nickolas Walker, running, being attacked, shoved into that van, and Fang, standing there helplessly.

I sat there, gasping and regained my breath. The dull ache of my muscles had left, replaced by searing pain everywhere. It felt as if someone was pouring liquid silver down my throat.

I stood on un-steady legs and backed into the wall, my mind reeling. My thoughts were all jumbled together, a constant delirium of nonsense. Going around and around, like a ball of yarn and a cat. I couldn't understand most of it, and whatever could help me refused to push through the tangle.

I was panicked now, my eyes flicking around the barren room. _Smell…Walker…bed…white…Fang…_

_Fang! Where's Fang? Fang…_He wouldn't come. No, Fang can't come. He doesn't have the experience, doesn't know what to do in order to help me out. Heck, I don't even _want _Fang to come. Just the thought of someone I love so much being near that…that douche makes me shudder, thinking of the people who now lay on slabs, dead.

I pushed the thought away, not wanting to picture Fang dead.

Suddenly_, _another searing pain erupted in my chest and I was gasping, reaching for breath that never came. I coughed and coughed, and soon it was only wheezing, while clutching my stomach in pain. Tears started forming and soon, I couldn't take it any more. I started sobbing.

Minutes, maybe hours passed, and before I knew it, one of the wall panels was kicked inwards and Nikolas Walker came in, cool and casual with a short greeting, "Maximum."

His voice was calm, not rising nor dropping, enough to fool anyone. It was as velvety smooth as Fang's, maybe even more.

My head shot up painfully fast and I tried to focus in on his approaching figure, but my eyes blurred and suddenly, to me, there was two Nickolas Walkers, sliding back and forth. I wiped my eyes and looked again, but they were as bad as before, mixed and fuzzed.

I didn't need my eyes to know he was smiling.

"There's a reason you're like this. You probably can't think straight. Your vision is messed up. You feel weak and your muscles ache painfully. I'd tell you what it is, but I think you can guess."

_It's a drug. I'm being drugged._

"Normally, my victims don't suffer much pain. I like the more…quick and easy…method. Just one slash to the throat usually works.

Despite my weakened state, I still managed to deliver a death glare, "You did…, "another gasp, " kill them!"

"Yes, Maximum, I did. And I have absolutely no regret."

In court, just like TV, they do ask for motive. Nickolas Walker has none. So far, "Why?"

"Ah! The Golden Question. Why in fact did I kill those, what, five people? Well, Max, that's an easy one, "he scoffed," but it's going to have to wait for another time. For now, let's focus on the important matter at hand. My son."

(**I imagine this part like the point in every NCIS episode just before commercial break where they say some kind of cliffy then it's **_**FLASH! **_**And the commercial starts. So, try to picture it like that.)**

I felt my body go rigid and my fists clench as I said, "What about him?"

"I need him to help me. I have a feeling that…I could use him."

My anger boiled, _Use him? Use him for _what_?_ _Slashing peoples throats and living a life of sadness and death?_

"How?" I said slowly.

"Wouldn't you like to know? How about this, I'll let you call him and give him a message from me when you're coherent and functional, but until then, have a great evening."

I'm guessing he walked out, but in my haze all I could see was a figure zigzagging and then slipping through the wall again. An audible _bang!_ of the wall panel confirmed my suspicions.

I screeched in frustration and barely winced at the searing pain. God damnit! Why couldn't my life be moderately simple for once?

_**Little pause-y thing!**_

After three or four hours, the drug finally wore off and my body was finally functional again. For effect I jogged, stretched, tested my muscles all over the room and decided, despite a slight headache, I was relatively okay, and ready for a fight whenever it may come to it.

I was on my forty-second push-up when the panel was kicked in.

In seconds I was on my feet, legs at shoulder distance and arms crossed over my chest. My oily hair hung over my face as I said as politely (which trust me, wasn't very polite), "Welcome to hell, a guaranteed turn from your already hectic life. Feel free to join me at any time!"

_He _walked in, two men trailing behind him, "Hello to you too. I see you're in a peppy mood."

My face twisted in confusion, "I thought serial killers didn't have goons!"

He smirked a smirk, one that I had come to know as Fang's smirk and explained, "They don't. But then again, I'm not a serial killer. That's what you _assume. _ But my victims aren't random. Each and every one of them I know, and each and every one of them I hate."

Okay, he got me there, "You don't seem the type for hate crime."

He shook his head in disappointment, "There you go again, Max. You're assuming. Actually, I did hate them. I hated them because they all had something I wanted. Something I would do anything to get, "I'm almost positive he tried to sound peppy, but he failed miserably as he said, "Anyway, back to a happier subject! Guess what!"

I only cocked my hip and raised an eyebrow.

He sighed, "Not one for child games, huh? Hmm…maybe you are grown up enough for young Nich. You'd be good for him."

My mask didn't falter at the mention of Fang; but inside, my heart started going haywire.

I rolled my eyes, "Get on with it, Walker. Are you going to kill me or not? I'm obviously not going anywhere!"

He pretended to think about it, "Maybe. Maybe not. You have something in common with all of those people, you know. I wanted something from them and guess what? I want something from you."

I whispered, "Fang."

He smiled, "Yes. Fang indeed. I promised you that you could talk with him, right?, "He was handed a phone from one of his goons and tossed it onto the small bed," Well, I plan to keep that promise."

He turned to walk out the door, but halted and said one more thing, "Don't bother telling him where you are. Because, let's face it, you don't even _know _where you are."

He smirked that smirk again and walked out the panel, his goons following obediently.

I waited until it slammed shut and walked hesitantly over to the small bed. I climbed on and brought my knees to my chest, resting my head on them lightly. I stared at the small, black cellular device for a long time, building up the courage.

Finally, I brought a shaky hand down and scooped it up, hearing the dial tone clearly. My other hand came up slowly and started punching numbers, dialing Fang's number.

The first ring started and I brought the device to my ear, mentally willing him to pick up.

"Come on, come on, come on." I pleaded with it, ready to throw it at the wall and stomp on it.

At the seventh ring I was ready to give up, but at the last second I heard a defeated, "What?"

I gasped, hating the sound of his voice. The velvety smoothness was gone, replaced by a cold and cracked one. So lost, so empty, so _broken._

"Hello? …Nobody's even there huh? …You know, I'm waiting for an important call here! Hell, my possible girlfriend is missing, maybe even dead! And here you are, wasting my time while I lay here, depressed out of my mind!"

Despite my state and his broken voice, I couldn't help but smile slightly as I said, "Fang, it's me. Max."

It took a whole minute for him to respond, his soft and hopeful "Max?"

"Yeah, blabbermouth. It's me."

"Oh..my..god, Max! Where are you? Are you all right? Did he hurt you? If he did, I swear I'll kick him in th-"

His voice was frantic as I cut him off, laced deeply with worry and excitement, "Hey! Fang, I'm all right. No, he did not hurt me, just drugged me. And, well, I have no idea where I am."

His voice seemed even more broken as he said, "Max…we're going to find you, all right? There's absolutely no way I'm letting you go, not now. I love you too much to let you die, especially because of _my dad. _Oh god, my dad is going to kill you, isn't he? This is my entire fault! If I hadn't decided to hang out with you, this would have never happened-"

I cut him off again, this time overwhelmed, "You love me?"

I didn't here from him for a while before he took a deep breath, "Yes, Maximum Ride, I'm in love with you. Damnit, you are the soul thing I think about anymore. I'm not even worried in the slightest about my dad being a _serial killer! _Instead, I'm freaking out inside that you might accidentally cut yourself while shaving! How stupid is that? You're great and oh god, you're just awesome! You're tough, you're sarcastic, and you're beautiful, "He paused for a second, "Max, I love you. _So much_."

**Did you catch it? Max said she loved Fang somewhere in there. Yup, that's right. Maximum Ride is in fact in love with Fang, even if she doesn't completely realize it yet.**

_**AND **_**FANG IS IN LOVE WITH MAX! NO SURPRISE THERE! **

**If you didn't notice that the 'fax scene' was totally crappy, it's because I currently am **_**very**_** pissed at my semi-partial-co-writer who writes all my fax scenes that I get really awkward during, and we're kind of avoiding each other at all costs. Ya, hope you guys don't think it's crappy.**


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